Elastic fender for vessels



(No Model.)

G. O. STEIN. ELASTIC FENDER FOR VESSELS.

No. 445,910. Patented Feb. 3, 1891.

WITNESSES:

A TTOH/VEY UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GUSTAVE O. STEIN, OF PIOCIIE, NEVADA.

ELASTIC FENDER FOR VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 445,910, dated February3, 1891.

Application filed June 7, 1890. $eriel No. 354,667. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, GUSTAVE O. STEIN, of Pioche, in the county ofLincoln and State of Nevada, have invented anew and useful Improvementin Bumpers for Vessels, of which the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to avoid the disastrous results thatusually follow collisions at sea; and to this end it consists inproviding the bow or cut-Water of the vessel with one or more verticalrollers hung in a frame which is supported by arms projecting horizontally beyond the cut-water of the boat, which rollers are designed tobe canted and tilted in one direction or the other and roll along thesides of any vessel against which they may strike without doing anyserious damage thereto.

Figure 1 is a side view of the bow of a vessel equipped with three of mybumpers, and Figs. 2 and S are views showing how these bumpers arecanted in one direction or the other, according to Whether struck aboveor below their centers.

A is the bow of the vessel, and 1) its waterline. On the level of itsseveral decks a a a are firmly fixed upon'opposite sides of thecut-Water pairs of strong arms 0 c, in the outer ends of which is hung aiectangular frame 6, disposed so as to swing about a horizontal axis.Within each of these frames is pivoted a roller (I, made of metal orstrong material and covered with a jacket of soft rubber or otheryielding material. Now when the bow A of the vessel equipped with mybumpers strikes against the side of another vessel in collision, insteadof cutting through the same and involving great loss of life andproperty, the bumper-rollers yield and the struck vessel slides easilypast the rollers and away from the dangerous impact of an otherwiseunyielding cut-water. If the bumper-roller is struck above its middle,it cants in the direction shown by Fig. 2, and if struck below thecenter it cants in the opposite direction, as shown in Fig. 3.

At the bottom of the boat and along the double keel K there are arrangeda series of rollers R, about two feet apart, which serve to facilitatethe coming off from sand-banks or reefs in case the vessel should strikethe same.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new is A vesselhaving upon opposite sides of its cut-water horizontal arms projectingin front of the cut-water and bearing a horizontallypivoted framecontaining a vertically-pivoted roller, substantially as shown anddescribed.

GUSTAVE O. STEIN.

Witnesses: it

JOHN SHIER, JOHN RoEDER.

